Ashton-under-Hill The Beckford Overbury Parish Alstone & Magazine Teddington August 2018 50p DENNIS OXLEY 18/3/1928 - 7/7/2018 Schedule of Services for The Parish of Overbury with Teddington, Alstone and Little Washbourne, with Beckford and Ashton under Hill. AUGUST Ashton Beckford Overbury Alstone Teddington 6:00pm 5th August 8:00am 9.30 am Evening NO 10th Sunday BCP HC CW HC Prayer SERVICE after Trinity S Renshaw S Renshaw S Renshaw 6.00 pm 9.30 am 12th August 9.30 am 11.00 am Evening Morning 11th Sunday CW HC CW HC Worship Prayer after Trinity S Renshaw S Renshaw R Tett R Palmer 11.00 am 9.30 am 6.00 pm 19th August 8.00 am Village Morning Evening 12th Sunday BCP HC Worship Prayer Prayer after Trinity R Tett G Pharo G Pharo S Renshaw 26th August 10:00am - United Parish Worship at Little Washbourne 13th Sunday M Baynes after Trinity SEPTEMBER 11:00am 6:00pm 2nd September 8:00am Family 9:30am Songs of 14th Sunday BCP HC Service with CW HC Praise after Trinity S Renshaw Baptism S Renshaw D Lewis S Renshaw Morning Prayers will be said at 8.30am on Fridays at Ashton. Holy Communion is celebrated at 10.00am on Wednesdays in St Faith’s Church, Overbury. Clergy: Revd Canon Matthew Baynes Revd Canon Susan Renshaw Revd David Lewis Revd Rick Tett (Curate) Readers: Roger Palmer The Rector, Canon Matthew Baynes can be contacted at any time on: 01684 772237 or email: [email protected]. Parish Office: Tuesday mornings: 9.00am to 12noon: 01684 772237 Friday mornings (Beckford Village Hall),: 9am to 12 noon: 01386 881349 or [email protected] (Parish Secretary) Page 2 ‘God looked around at all that he had made, and he was very pleased’ Genesis Chapter 1 I have just had the privilege of going away with Debs my wife and Jacob our youngest son to Cornwall. I was brought up by the sea and in the countryside and sometimes take what is around me for granted. I am always blown away by God’s redeeming power through creation. I am blessed to wake up to the view of Bredon Hill and the surrounding area I live in from my living room window each morning. On holiday my best days were just standing and watching the sea go in and out in Cornwall, which is very calming and peaceful. For those who watch Poldark I was standing on Holywell Bay where many of the scenes were filmed. As I watched the sea crashing against the rocks it reminded me of Jesus calming the storm and seeing some of the little boats heading out to sea made me wonder how those fishermen with Jesus were feeling. There is a calmness about the sea but also an underlying danger. It can be calm and peaceful one minute and then suddenly it can be raging and battering the rocks. When I was little I used to sit in Brixham harbour watching the trawlers go out to sea and wondering if I would ever be on the sea. And my dream was to come true when I joined the Royal Marines and spent many a happy time on the sea and in it. My worst experience of being on the sea was going on a military boat to the Outer Hebrides. These boats are flat bottomed and therefore don’t take to storms well. We hit the storm half way across and we were being thrown about really badly, waves coming over the bow like I have never seen. When we have storms in our lives - as we do – do we rely on God’s grace and love to guide us through and in Jesus Christ his son to help us and guide us in our every day lives, challenges and storms? We have recently given our friend Denis Oxley, who was a Church Army Captain and had been ministering in the Beckford Group, into God’s care. He once told me that wherever we are in the world God will give us somewhere we can find peace even in our sometimes chaotic and hectic lives. My prayer for us is to give ourselves time to listen to God’s voice whenever we face those storms and allow ourselves peace knowing God is with us always. Blessings Rick Page 3 Dennis Oxley: 18/3/1928 - 7/7/2018 Dennis’s death coming so close to the August magazine deadline has meant that there has not really been enough time to put together many reflections on his enormous contribution to our life as a parish and to the wider church. There will I am sure be more written in the September magazine when people have had time to gather their thoughts, but a few people have already begun to share reminiscences about this remarkable man who was a part of our parish story for well over twenty years. Dennis was a dedicated servant of the Church throughout his life, and the most extraordinarily prodigious visitor. His index card record system recorded in his beautiful handwriting each of the visits he made, along with little details about those whom he met. He touched many people’s lives and his legacy of love and Christian service will be remembered for many years. At the time of writing we are still in the process of putting together the arrangements for his Memorial service of which there will also be a report in the next Parish Magazine. If you have anything about Dennis you would like to share please contact Chris our magazine editor - contact details on the Directory page at the back of the magazine. Matthew It was a warm sunny morning when I drove into the car park at the home where Dennis spent his last days. I had received a message saying that he was not too well and that he had expressed a desire to see me should I ever be in the area. As soon as an opportunity occurred I took it. Alas, I am not sure that my message saying what time I would arrive had got to Dennis and so when I did arrived he was sitting at lunch with two other residents. It was, believe it or not, some sixty years since we had last met and I wondered if we might recognize each other. Dennis was very subdued and as this visit took place only a week or so before his death he may not at the time have been feeling his normal self. As we chatted together memories came flooding back. I was a very young and inexperienced man just beginning my induction into full time lay Ministry. Dennis was a battle hardened warrior and conducted himself in the training college as a sort of Ecclesiastical Sergeant Major. He was one of the most disciplined individuals I have ever met. Never once did I see him without his Church Army uniform and hardly ever without his precious bible. It was Dennis who gave me my first introduction to public speaking by ushering me onto a soap box in Hyde Park. I was terrified as I had never spoken in public before and certainly had never experienced heckling from a crowd. I survived! Although Dennis and I represented different wings of the Church of England, Dennis being clearly of an evangelical disposition and myself leaning more to the Anglo-Catholic side, this did not in any way mean that we were not united in basic beliefs. Whatever one may have thought of his battle hardened tactics one could not help but respect his dedication and sincerity. Our last meeting in the home did not last too long. He was clearly tired and approaching his last days on earth. We said our goodbyes and I left to speak at a gathering some miles away. My thoughts were with him as were my prayers. Those who knew him will certainly never forget him. He was a devoted servant of the Lord who sustained him. His name will live on as he rests in peace. Terry Waite CBE Page 4 We had the privilege of working with Dennis in the summer of 1977 and then January to December 1978 on the Northern Mission team, with Dennis as team leader. He was a man of prayer and incredible Bible knowledge. When asked once how often he had read the Bible through cover to cover, he replied that he’d read it so often he couldn’t remember, but that he always made a point of reading through any new version of the Bible. He was something of a workaholic, but that emanated from his prayer life. He used to have a 5 year diary which went with him everywhere. Once we visited the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland and walked around the coastal path – with Dennis clutching his 5 year diary under his arm. When asked why he’d brought his diary with him, “Well, you never know do you?” he replied! The Northern Mission Team was working in Christ Church, Quarry Bank (Dudley) the week the 13 year old paperboy, Carl Bridgewater, was murdered near Stourbridge. Everyone was shocked, everyone was asking why and how could God allow such things to happen. I have no doubt that Dennis’s sermon for that Sunday was prepared on his knees well before we ever arrived in Quarry Bank, but he abandoned his prepared notes and preached the most incredibly powerful sermon saying that if the Christian Faith had nothing to say in these situations then it had nothing to say, was irrelevant and his faith was ill founded.